Konnichiwa, Babysitters!
by stroppy
Summary: Super Special 92350! Claudia, along with the rest of the BSC, goes on a trip to Japan. Squat toilets, karaoke, and vending machines that sell umbrellas? The girls might want to say sayonara to Stoneybrook for good!
1. Prologue

_Hurshey candy bar_

_I lick to eat candy_

_It tastes very good_

No, that wasn't right. The second line was six syllables.

_Chunkee bars on sail_

_They'are delishis trapezoids_

_Raisens are helthy_

This time, the second line was eight syllables. I was starting to get frustrated, but I kept my cool.

_Kit-Cat, Sneckrs, Mars_

_I am a candy addict_

So far, so good…

_I liv in a howse_

Perfect! You're probably wondering what was going on. I was trying to write a haiku, which is a type of Japanese poetry. Why Japanese? Well, I'm Japanese-American. Second-generation Japanese-American, to be more specific. My parents were born in Japan, but came to America when they were young. Sometimes I think they must miss it, since they haven't been back since before my older sister, Janine, was born. That was sixteen years ago!

I've told you a little about my parents, and you know I have a sister, so I guess I should tell you who _I_ am. I'm Claudia Kishi, I'm thirteen years old, and I'm an eighth-grader at Stoneybrook Middle School, or SMS, in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Most of my other friends, including my best friend, Stacey McGill, are as well, but I have two sixth-grade friends, Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike. I'll tell you more about them, and this great club we have, later.

Back to the haiku. My English teacher, Ms. Hall, had assigned us a poetry project. She called poetry a type of art, which was exciting to me because I love art! Painting, drawing, sculpting – you name it. I even extend my love of art to what I wear. Not to be conceited, but I am _the _wildest dresser at SMS. Just to give you an idea, right then, I was wearing green cowboy boots, black tights with holes cut in them, purple denim overalls, and a purple and green tie-dyed lab coat. I tie-dyed the lab coat myself. I also had on a necklace made of black and green pipe cleaners, a bunch of black plastic bracelets, and two silver hoop earrings in my right ear. That's right, I have two holes in my right earlobe! I have one in the left. Cool, huh? My long hair was in five ponytails, each fastened with a purple pipe cleaner. My color scheme for the day was black, purple, and green. My inspiration was some black, purple, and green painting I saw somewhere. I just have an artistic mind.

So even though the poetry was supposed to be _like _art, it wasn't as fun as some other artistic activities I could think of. Then again, school isn't really my thing. I get average grades, but I am actually of above average intelligence. Honest! I just don't apply myself, because the truth is there are much more fun things to do than schoolwork. My sister Janine, who I mentioned before, thinks the opposite, and she is actually a real live genius. Her IQ is 196 and her social life is pretty pathetic, so sometimes I can bribe her with dates with Rock Brompton to do my homework. He's really into Asian girls, so it works out for both of them

I was _not_, however, bribing her to write my haiku. It sounded simple enough to do, so I figured I could write a poem of seventeen syllables myself. And I did, after only three tries! It just goes to show you how talented I am at anything remotely artistic.

"_Claudia!_" That was my mom, sounding slightly annoyed.

"What, Mom?" I called back.

"I've been calling you for ten minutes! Come down, it's time for dinner!" I clomped down the stairs in my boots and sat at the kitchen table. Mom, Dad, and Janine were already seated, and Janine was spooning peas from a dish onto her plate. I glanced around and saw that dinner was, in addition to the peas…well, I wasn't quite sure.

"Um, Mom? Dad? What's…for dinner?"

Janine answered me. "It's a tofu and lentil loaf! I made it while I was waiting for my lab partner to call me back and admit that she analyzed our data incorrectly. We got in an argument writing up our heat of fusion lab." She cut a huge piece of the grayish mass and slapped it onto my plate. Janine loves to cook, and I will eat almost anything, but my appetite was receding at the sight of her latest concoction. I wondered how much of it I could hide in my napkin before running back to my room and pigging out on Baby Ruths.

Before I could make a guess, though, my mother spoke. "Girls, I have news. My cousin, Mei – do you remember her?"

I didn't, but Janine did. "Isn't she Mimi's older sister's daughter?"

"Right. She's my _obachan_'s youngest daughter, she's only ten years older than you, Claudia." So how old was she? I began counting on my fingers, but I only have ten fingers, so I couldn't get to the thirteen I had to add the ten to. Well, she had to be at least ten. "Anyway, she's getting married, but we only got the invitation to her wedding yesterday. It's in three weeks, and since your dad has accumulated so many vacation days, he and I thought we could go to Japan for Mei's wedding."

Darn. I wanted to go to Japan, too. I've hardly been anywhere. I went to the beach with my friend Kristy Thomas's family when I was ten, and my family has been to Vermont, but besides those trips, the two times I've been to California this year, my school trips to Hawaii and Europe, and the cruise to the Bahamas, I'm practically a homebody.

"Just you and Dad?" Janine sounded as dismayed as I felt. "But Claudia and I could come, too! In three weeks, we'll be on spring break."

I glanced outside. It's the middle of March right now, and it snowed yesterday. I don't think Janine knew what she was talking about. March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Lambs must mean we'd all be wearing wool by the end of the month, so it would have to be freezing.

My parents didn't really look pleased at the prospect of bringing us along, but Janine was still talking. "Neither Claudia nor I have ever been to Japan, and the experience would allow us the opportunity to obtain vast amounts of knowledge we would be unable to absorb elsewhere." She sounded convincing, and I took a bite of tofu and lentil loaf to express my solidarity. Then spit it into my hand, took off my boot, and dropped the chewed tofu and lentils into it. I reached into the side of my overalls and removed the chocolate chip cookies I keep in my bra for emergencies.

"Janine, honey, we'd love to take you along, but it isn't that simple. Mei lives with her older sister's family in a Tokyo apartment – it's crowded and two houseguests are probably all they could handle," Mom explained. Dad was taking small bites of tofu-lentil loaf and washing them down with large gulps of water. "When we called to tell them we were coming, they didn't insist that the two of you also come, so we can't very well bring you along and spring two extra bodies on them. You'll have other chances to go to Japan," she said encouragingly.

My parents are so unfair. I deserve a change of scenery; it feels like I've been in the eighth grade at SMS for ten years already. Then, suddenly, I had a great idea. I knew how not only Janine and I, but also six of my closest friends, could go to Japan for spring break. "May I be excused? Janine, this is great, but I can't eat another bite." At least that last sentence was true. "I have a lot of homework," I added for good measure. That did the trick, and my parents quickly gave me permission to go back to my room.

There, I sat on my bed and dialed a familiar number into my phone (I have my own phone number, so I never have to worry about anyone listening in on an extension! This is especially handy when Pete Black calls and asks what I'm wearing. I wouldn't want anyone stealing my ideas for extremely cool loungewear). "Hello, Kristy? It's Claud."


	2. Claudia

Before I go any further, I should tell you more about my friends. I'll start with Stacey, since you already know she's my best friend. Remember that problem I had figuring out how old Mom's cousin Mei is? Stacey is a math genius – she might have even been able to solve it! I'm completely serious. I get dizzy looking at her math homework – she's already mastered fractions! She's no nerd, though. Stacey grew up in Manhattan (really!) and is extremely sophisticated. She knows about trends way before they hit Stoneybrook. Stacey was the first girl in our class at SMS to do cocaine!

One of my friends, Abby Stevenson, would _never_ try cocaine. This is because she is allergic to many things, so she is always congested and sniffling. Her nose would probably fall off if she ever snorted blow. Abby just moved to Stoneybrook from Long Island, but for some reason she doesn't have crispy, highlighted hair or thick acrylic nails. She does have a sense of humor that everyone calls "good," but I secretly don't think much of it. You see, Abby really likes puns and plays on words, which confuse me because they usually involve words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Oh, one last thing about Abby…I'm just going to come right out and say it – she's Jewish. When she first moved to Stoneybrook, no one really cared about that, but we love her just the same!

People sometimes think Mallory Pike is Jewish, because she has a really big nose. But she's not! I'm not sure what religion she is exactly, but I know her family is religious because Mr. and Mrs. Pike are always in their bedroom, yelling, "Oh, God!" Besides her parents, Mallory's family includes her seven younger siblings, a dog, and a hamster. With all those people, Mallory has to do a ton of chores to help out her parents. It's good practice for her future career, which will be waiting tables during the day while she waits for literary agents to respond to her queries. Mallory loves to write and is really talented. She's even won awards for her writing, most notably Best Overall Fiction in the Sixth Grade, when she wrote a fictional story about a girl with a whole bunch of brothers and sisters whose parents make her do lots of work.

Mallory's best friend, Jessi Ramsey, is also talented. Her talent, however, is reminding people of her race. Jessi shares her race with such esteemed folk as George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King, and Flavor Flav. You guessed it – she's black! Jessi is also a dancer. She has been studying ballet since she was four, and while I could never participate in an activity with such a boring uniform – _always _those black leotards and pink tights! Give me a magenta sweater dress over red leggings any day -- Jessi excels at it. Hmm, I've told you Jessi is black and that she dances, so…that's pretty much it. Oh, yeah. She used to tell jokes, but then she stopped, which is why we let Abby hang out with us.

Mary Anne Spier hangs out with us because I have known her since I was a baby. I'm pretty sure she cried less then. Mary Anne is extremely sensitive and very shy. She hates drawing attention to herself, which is why she started crying and ran out of her last birthday party. Mary Anne's mom died when she was a baby, and her dad made her wear boring clothes until, like, last year because of that. Now he's remarried and pretty much ignores Mary Anne, but for some reason she still won't let me give her a makeover.

Mary Anne's best friends are her stepsister, Dawn, who lives in California, and Kristy Thomas, who is another of my friends. Kristy had the idea for the Baby-sitters Club, which is really a business. All of us get together in my room three times a week, and parents call us to set up baby-sitting jobs for us to watch their children. The BSC is very successful. This past quarter, we had surplus revenues sufficient for three pizza parties with sodas and extra cheese. Kristy doesn't shave her legs or wear a bra, but she really is a girl.

It was Kristy who I called that night after dinner. "Hello, Kristy? It's Claud."

"This is Sam." Sam is one of Kristy's older brothers. He and Stacey used to date, until she discovered the allure of boys whose voices have begun to change.

"Oh, sorry. Is Kristy there?"

"No, she went to Europe."

"Okay, I'll call back later. Bye." I hung up. I realized I had forgotten to ask what time she would be back, so I got up and headed to Janine's room to find out how long it would take for Kristy to get back to Stoneybrook, assuming she had taken her bike. Before I made my way past the sculpture I was working on (a malted milk ball), my phone rang.

It was Kristy. "Hi, Claud. Sam said you called."

I didn't bother trying to find out how Kristy got home so quickly. "Kristy. My parents are going to Japan over spring break. Do you think Watson would want to copy their vacation and bring me along?" Kristy's stepfather, Watson Brewer, has a habit of organizing similar trips once he hears about vacations other people have planned. Kristy's family is so large, I'm sure they wouldn't notice an extra person coming with them! I wondered if I would have to get them to take Janine. I mean, she's going to have to learn sometime that this world is every man, woman, boy, girl, or other organism for himself, herself, or itself.

"I'm sure he would! He is a millionaire, you know." It is true. "I'll go now and mention that your parents are going. In about ten minutes he should think of the idea. I'll call you back." Yes! My plan was underway.

In about an hour, Kristy called me back. "Watson actually decided to go to Japan as soon as I said your parents were going, like, I hadn't even closed my mouth after saying the 'n' in 'Mr. and Mrs. Kishi are going to Japan,' I just couldn't call you back because there was an emergency during a game of Let's All Come In. Mrs. Noswimple kicked Bruce Stringbean in the stomach because he wouldn't stop singing 'Glory Days'. Anyway, the best part is that Watson invited the entire BSC to come along! He said he would need someone to watch the little kids while he was checking out the geishas. Nannie won't come because she was actually alive during World War Two and sort of hates the Japanese. No offense, Claud."

"None taken." At least the mystery of why Kristy's grandmother always shouted, "The sleeping giant done came and _kicked your ass_!" when she saw me was solved. "Why can't Charlie and Sam come?"

"Sam has a math club meet the first day of school after break and he needs to work on his trigonometry. For some reason, he can't master Soh-Cah-Toa." I wondered what the woman who helped Lewis and Clark explore had to do with math club. I would ask Stacey later. Actually, it sounded really boring, so I probably wouldn't. "And Mom's really mad that Charlie has been spending the money we give him to drive me around on books of hentai. She doesn't think it would be good for him to go to Japan."

"Yeah, she's probably right. Do you want to call everyone and let them know?"

"That Charlie reads dirty comics?"

"No, that Watson invited everyone."

"Oh. You can, if you want to. Or we could tell them at school tomorrow and call Mallory and Jessi."

"No, I can wait until the meeting." The last time I called Jessi's house, her sister put the phone down but forgot to call Jessi to it. I sat there for ten minutes listening to her Aunt Cecelia grunt loudly while doing what I later found out were push-ups. It made me sort of uncomfortable.

"Okay. I'll see you in school tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye, Kristy."

That Wednesday afternoon, I was shoving some art supplies and clothes under my bed so there would be room for everyone to sit during our meeting. I made sure the surprise snack I had bought yesterday for everyone was still in its hiding place, and before I knew it, it was 5:15 and the other club members were starting to arrive.

Stacey and Mallory were first. Mallory was wearing an enormous sweatshirt, which she peeled off to reveal a long-sleeved hot pink Spandex shirt that had sequined letters reading _BOOGIE TILL YOU PUKE!_ "Isn't this awesome?" Mallory gestured to her top. "I bought it with my own money at Zingy's. I wore the sweatshirt over it so Mom and Dad don't know about it. They would put it in Pow's bed for sure if they saw it. They treat me like such a baby! I wanted to take the sweatshirt off for the walk outside, but it's still so cold. It's nice and warm in here, though, Claudia."

"Mmm." I was busy trying to ignore the fact that Mallory's top clashed terribly with her red hair. While Mallory was talking, Mary Anne had arrived. Her yellow sweater was covered in dark gray cat fur, which I also had to ignore. Sometimes I wish I had friends besides Stacey who dress as fabulously as I do.

Kristy and Abby were the next to arrive, and Jessi wasn't far behind them. "Okay, we're all here! I have – "

I was interrupted by Kristy, who had sat down in my director's chair. "What is that _smell, _Claudia? It reeks in here. Like gym socks with the Wednesday SMS hot lunch in them. Could you open a window?"

"_Nooooo_! If it gets too cold in here I'll have to put my sweatshirt back on!" Mallory whined.

"Could you turn on the air conditioner?" asked Stacey.

"_Guys_. I said I – " I was interrupted by Kristy again.

"Order! I call this meeting of the Baby-sitters Club – "

The phone rang,

"To order." She picked up the phone. "Hello, Baby-sitters Club. Two weeks from Tuesday? Well, my stepdad is paying for all of us baby-sitters to go to Japan, so probably no one will be here. I have to check with our associate members. I'll get back to you."

"Are you serious? Land of ramen, here I come!" shouted Abby. She got up and started bowing at everyone. The rest of the girls didn't seem to get what Kristy said.

"Kristy! I wanted to tell them! I had a special Japanese snack and everything!" I knew I sounded like a baby, but honestly. Kristy has such a big mouth.

"Was it Pocky? Charlie used to get Pocky at the store where he bought, um…never mind."

"No," I said grumpily and reached behind my radiator. "I bought sushi from the grocery store yesterday afternoon. It was on sale for half off because it was past the sell-by date."

"So that's what that smell was," Abby deduced.

"Ew," Jessi said.

"It was still good, Jessi! It was only one day past!"

"I was saying 'ew' to sushi in general. Eating raw fish sounds uncivilized."

I ignored her. Sixth-graders can be such babies. Well, Chris Brooks is pretty cute, but he looks like he got left back a few times, so he doesn't count. And there's no reason for me not to like a guy because he repeated a grade. There's nothing _wrong _with it, okay? "Guys, if you were paying attention to what Kristy said – "

Kristy interrupted me _yet again_. "Mary Anne, who's free two weeks from next Tuesday? The Kormans need a sitter for Melody and Skylar." She turned to me. "Professionalism supersedes personal announcements, Claudia."

"You're free, Kristy," Mary Anne said, the record book open in her lap.

"No, I'm not, I'm going to Japan. Oh, did I tell you guys? Watson is taking us to Japan for spring break, and he invited all of you guys to come! He needs sitters for the kids, so he'd pay your expenses. It'll be dibble!"

I was going to hit her.

"Acute!" That was Mallory.

"Fresh!" That was Stacey.

"Chilly!" That was Mary Anne.

"The Japanese are racist." That was Jessi.

"What?" the rest of us asked.

"They have a derogatory word for black people," she answered.

"So does the English language," Stacey pointed out.

"Oh, how would you know that unless you were racist, too? You make me sick. I bet you all make fun of my hair behind my back." Jessi reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out the bald cap she wore during the Sixth Grade Follies. She felt so guilty after Mr. Trout resigned, she's carried it around with her ever since. "Now you won't have to look at it anymore." She put the bald cap on and crossed her arms. Wearing her reading glasses, she looked sort of like a black Dalai Lama. I bet there are even fewer black Dalai Lamas than there are black ballerinas.

Mallory put her arm around Jessi, who shrugged it off. Mallory's lower lip quivered and tears filled her eyes. Mary Anne realized what was about to happen and started sobbing first. Abby was still bowing at everyone. Kristy, paragon (isn't that a great word? I read it in a Nancy Drew book once) of _professionalism_, said, "I better call Shannon and see if she can take the job. So, yeah, guys, check with your parents and let me know if you can come."

I offered the sushi around, but nobody wanted any. I noticed some weird, hairy-looking things sticking out of a piece of salmon and that some of the rice had turned a ghastly pink color reminiscent of Mallory's Spandex shirt. I hoped it was not a bad omen for the trip to Japan.


	3. Kristy

_Hey, Bart-Man!_

_I'm on my way to the airport right now, but I thought I'd write you a postcard, since you probably miss me already. Just kidding. I mean, I'm not your girlfriend or anything. So you don't have to miss me. Unless you want to. I wouldn't, like, mind if you did. But you don't have to. Right. Okay. Bye._

_Kristy_

Some people may think I am immature, but I _have _had my fair share of experience with boys. So I know how to sound cool in a postcard to my non-boyfriend Bart, coach of my softball team's rivals, with whom I occasionally go to the movies. As I said in the postcard, we were going to the airport. Since Watson needed fourteen tickets and only booked them three weeks before our flight, we were flying out of LaGuardia Airport in New York City, rather than Bradley, the international airport in Connecticut. LaGuardia is about two and a half hours from Stoneybrook, and my family and friends in the Baby-sitters Club were going in three separate cars. I was in Watson's van with Stacey, Mary Anne, David Michael, Karen, and Andrew.

Mary Anne thinks New York City is the best place on Earth and seemed more excited about going to the airport than she was about going to Tokyo. As soon as we turned onto the Van Wyck Expressway, she started singing that song from _On the Town_. "New York, New York! It's a wonderful – "

Stacey interrupted her. "Mary Anne, you do know LaGuardia is in Queens, right? We don't recognize the B&T." Stacey's so sophisticated. I had no idea what B&T meant, but I had a sudden craving for a bacon and tomato sandwich.

"But, Stacey, they mention the Bronx in the song."

"Out of _pity_."

"Oh, okay!" She went back to singing.

By the time we got to the airport, David Michael, Karen, and Andrew were all singing along with Mary Anne. It was dibbly annoying but I didn't want to undermine Mary Anne's authority as a baby-sitter by telling her to stop, so I worked on my postcard to Bart. I wrote several drafts of it before deciding on the final one, and after we had checked our luggage, Mary Anne, Abby, and I went looking for a gift shop to buy a postcard so I could mail my note to Bart. I really wanted Stacey to come, since she's dated, like, ninety guys, so she'd have some valuable opinions on which postcard would be good to send to Bart. Unfortunately, Claudia was having a reaction to the white oil paint she had slathered on her face to go with her geisha-themed traveling outfit, so Stacey was helping her wash it off. Jessi and Mallory stayed behind to keep an eye on the kids.

"How about this one?" Abby plucked a postcard off the rack and handed it to me. "And Bart plays the guitar, like Bruce Springsteen."

"Gross, Abby! That's George Steinbrenner!" I may have nearly been born in Yankee Stadium, but Bart and I had our first real tryst while a Mets game was on TV. Not only do I not really want to remind him of baseball, which would make him think of watching baseball _games, _which would remind him of my mother and stepfather catching us, well, kissing, I also would rather eat nothing but the Wednesday SMS hot lunch for a year than buy a postcard with George Steinbrenner on it.

"It's not, Kristy, look, it says _The Boss_ right here!" I wondered if this was her idea of a play on words. When Abby first moved to Stoneybrook, I was really uncertain about letting her join the BSC. We are a serious, organized, professional business, and Abby jokes around an awful lot. Plus, she was totally disrespectful of the pizza toast the first time she did it. No matter what Abby thinks, there was nothing funny about dragging the Kishis' toaster out of their kitchen and clinking it against our slices.

I decided to ignore her until she was done being silly and ask for Mary Anne's advice instead. "Hey, Mary Anne!" Where did she go? I heard the beeping of the cash register and turned to see Mary Anne walking toward the rack of postcards, hauling three large shopping bags. "Mary Anne! What did you buy?"

"Just some souvenirs from the greatest city on the planet!" I peeked inside one of her bags. Among other things, I saw bagel-shaped magnets and the New York edition of Monopoly.

"Mary Anne! You have that Monopoly already!"

"Kristy, that's for displaying. We can actually play with this one!" She seemed so excited, I didn't want to tell her that sounded like a dumb idea to me. She would probably start crying. Instead, I asked for her thoughts on the postcards.

"Well, Kristy, when I send my boyfriend love notes – "

"He's not my boyfriend! And it's not a love note! _Stop that, Abby!_" Abby had begun noisily kissing her hand. Honestly. Sometimes I think she is _trying _to ruin the Baby-sitters Club's reputation as mature, responsible teenagers.

" – I usually write them on nice stationery. And mail them in an envelope," Mary Anne continued.

I paused. Was that too forward? I mean, I know I said Bart and I aren't boyfriend and girlfriend…but he had sent me love notes on stationery in envelopes before. I twirled the rack again and found myself face to face with a postcard of a pair of legs hanging over the back of a chair. Before I could spin the postcard rack again, the legs postcard had caught Mary Anne's eye.

"_Here's _a nice one, Kristy!"

"Uh…"

Before I knew what was happening, Mary Anne had snatched the postcard and was headed back to the cash register. "Just this, please," she said, pushing the card across the counter.

The cashier picked up the card and inspected it. "You got this here?"

"Yes, from that rack back there. Where my friend is standing." Mary Anne stuck her hand in her pocket. "She's buying it, actually." She pointed at me. Thanks, Mary Anne. Sometimes I wish she still had the paralyzing shyness that gave her trouble talking to clerks in stores.

"Well, we don't carry any postcards with…legs on them. At least, I don't think we do. Let me ask my manager." The cashier bellowed across the store. "Lisa! Do we carry any postcards with curvy legs and high heels hanging over the back of a chair?"

A woman who I assumed was Lisa turned around from where she was kneeling on the floor, organizing magazines in a display. "I don't…does it say New York on it?"

"No."

"Where did it come from?"

"That little lady found it." The cashier gestured toward me, and I tried to hide behind Abby's hair. She figured out what I was doing and tried to pull it back in a ponytail, but it just puffed out after the elastic band, so I was still effectively hidden.

"I don't think it's ours. You might as well just take it," Lisa said to me.

"Er. Thanks," I replied. I picked up Mary Anne's shopping bags and quickly walked out of the store and back to our gate. Karen was playing Let's All Come In with Nannie, David Michael, Andrew, and several annoyed-looking passengers, and Stacey, Claudia (with an angry-looking rash still covering her face), Jessi, and Mallory were sitting in a circle on the floor, speaking heatedly.

"You have to tell them!"

"They'll never find out. American time is behind Japanese time, so they'll never know!"

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" I asked, walking over to my friends.

Jessi looked up. "Claudia didn't tell her parents that she was going to Japan with us!"

"Claudia!" Abby exclaimed.

"American time _is _behind Japanese time! Things happen first there! So my parents won't know I'm gone!" Claudia was beginning to look miffed. I saw Stacey open her mouth to correct her, so I started talking as quickly as I could.

"But, Claudia, your parents are in Japan, so you'll be there the same time they are," I reasoned.

Claudia's face fell. "Oh, _no_, you're right!" She reached into an enormous bag and produced a handful of candy corn, which she promptly shoved into her mouth. "What am I going to do?"

"Hey, where'd you get candy corn in March?" Abby asked, helpful as always.

Claudia grunted. I took stock of the situation, now that she was willing to acknowledge it, and came up with a Great Idea. "I know! Claudia, why don't you call your parents?"

My friends all turned to face me. "Kristy! That's a great idea!" "We don't call you the Idea Machine for nothing!" "Shut up, Hitler." I'm not sure who said that last one, but, anyway, everyone knows Hitler was one of the most charismatic politicians of his time – or any time, really.

"Thanks, Kristy. You're a Tic-Tac," Claudia beamed. She and Stacey set off for the pay phones.

Whew. Crisis averted. Now on to my next task. "Mary Anne, where's that postcard? I have to copy my note to Bart onto it."

Mary Anne looked at me blankly. "I thought you brought it."

"No, you were the one talking to the people there about it."

"I don't have it. Abby, did you…?"

Abby shook her head. "Mmphh," she said around a mouthful of Claudia's five-month-old candy corn. Her hair stopped shaking about a minute later, and after she swallowed, she said, "I didn't bring it."

Well, this was great. After being completely embarrassed in that gift shop, I didn't even have a postcard to show for it. "I'm sorry, Kristy, don't be mad at me," Mary Anne wept into my shoulder. "I'll go back and get it for you!" She blew her nose on the sleeve of my Krushers T-shirt.

"No, Mary Anne, don't worry about it." After all, Bart and I aren't really boyfriend and girlfriend, so it wasn't like he would be expecting a postcard.

"Well, if you're sure…Kristy, I'll make this up to you."

Mary Anne is the most loyal friend anyone could ask for. I knew she was telling the truth. "I know, Mary Anne," I said. "I know."


End file.
